Antonia Fortress discussion

Todd Bolen calls attention to an article by Ehud Netzer in the curent Biblical Archaeology Review on the location of the Antonia Fortress. Read the post here.

Leen Ritmeyer posted a response to Netzer and included some of his great diagrams here.

With Todd’s photo and Leen’s diagrams you will have some great material to help you understand the location of the Antonia.

The Antonia may not be the place where Jesus appeared before Pontius Pilate, as we once thought, but it is the place where Paul stayed under the custody of the Romans before his transfer to Caesarea Maritima.

English versions refer to the building as the barracks (Acts 21:37). Paul’s speech on the stairs was from the steps leading from the temple precinct to the Antonia.

Our photo above was made in the Moslem Quarter of Jerusalem near the site of the Antonia. I think the street is Bab Hutta. These little side streets are always so intriguing.

The photo below shows the Temple Mount in the Second Temple model at the Israel Museum. The Antonia is the large building on the right, the northwest corner of the Temple Mount.